Davidson County, NC Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Encampment Sanitation (2026)

03(C)(1) of the Davidson County Code of Ordinances, part of the county's 2021 public-assembly ordinance, prohibits camping on any public property owned by the county, including public rights-of-way and sidewalks, except within areas of county parks that the county has designated for that purpose. The code does not merely make camping a citable offense: it separately declares camping on county property a public nuisance, which gives the county authority to summarily remove a temporary shelter, bedding, or personal belongings left on the property without waiting for a court order or nuisance-abatement hearing.

03(C)(2) adds a companion prohibition on lighting or using a campfire or bonfire on county property unless separately permitted, closing off open flames as an alternative to structured shelter. 03 assembly rules adopted by the Board of Commissioners on January 12, 2021, which also cover sidewalk obstruction, law-enforcement dispersal lines, and prohibited attachments to county fixtures. 08. §14-4. Because this section governs county-owned property and rights-of-way only, it does not reach private land, and it applies only in the unincorporated parts of Davidson County; Lexington, Thomasville, Denton, Wallburg, and Midway enforce their own municipal camping and public-property rules separately.